Folding chair.



PATENTED JUNE 4, 1907. M. vT. BEDFORD. FOLDING CHAIR- APPLICATION FILED JAN. 2s, 1901.

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MILTON T. BEDFORD, OF SIDNEY, OHIO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO ROBERT V. JONES, OF SIDNEY, OHIO.

FOLDING CHAIR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 4, 1907.

Application filed January 25, 1907. Serial No. 353,946.

To all whom 222'; may concern:

Be it known that I, MILTON T. BEDFORD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sidney, in the county of Shelby and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Folding Chairs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in folding-chairs, or the like, designed with special reference for use in camps, assemblyhalls, lecture rooms etc., and on lawns, porches, and similar places, being admirably adapted for use either as a campchair, or widened or extended to form a lawn-seat.

The primary object of the invention is to produce a generally-improved chair or seat of this class which will be exceedingly simple in construction, cheap of manufacture, and efficient in use. p

Another object of the invention is to provide a chair or seat which, by reason of the novel construction and arrangement of parts will be adapted to more uniformly distribute the weight of the occupant upon the various parts, and in which the pivotal-connections are such as to insure greater stability than in the ordinary folding or camp-chair now in common use.

A further object is to provide a chair or seat which, when in its normal or operative position, shall be better adapted to rest or be supported in a stable manner on uneven surfaces such as camp-grounds, lawns etc., and, at the same time, may be moved about without folding or disarranging the various parts.

\Vith these and other ends in view, the invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement and combination of parts, hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the app-ended claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure l, is a central sectional view of the improved chair or seat in its normal or operative position. Fig. 2, a similar view of the same in its folded position. Fig. 3, a front elevation of the same in its normal position.

Similar characters of reference designate like parts throughout all the figures of the drawings.

The improved chair or seat comprises a pair of main side supporting-bars or bracemembers 1, connected near their lower or base ends by means of a cross-bar or member 2, and at their upper ends by means of the back of the chair, consisting, in the present instance, of a series of cross-slats or bars 3.

When the chair is in its normal position, as shown in Figs. 1, and 3, the main supportingbars, are inclined rearwardly and are sustained in this position, in the present instance, by means of a vertically-arranged brace-bar or member 4, secured at its upper end to a cross-member 5, pivotally-mounted and interposed between the upper ends of the bars 1, by means of pivot-pins or trunnions 6. \Vhen the parts are embodied in the form of a lawn-seat, however, two or more bracebars or members 4, may be secured at suitable intervals to the cross-member 5. In order to further brace or strengthen the upper end of the brace-member 4, at its connection with the cross-members 5, as against any lateral motion or strain at its lower end, a brace-block 6 is secured thereto and abuts or impinges against the lower side of said cross-member 5.

The seat, proper, comprises side-bars or members 7, connected at the front and rear ends by means of cross-bars or members 8. The seating may consist of any suitable and convenient material secured to the framemembers 7, and 8, such as carpet, canvas,

cane or wood, or, as shown in the present instance, may comprise a series of cross-slats or bars 9, secured at their ends to the side bars or members 7.

The frame of the seat is pivotally-mounted and interposed between the intermediate portions of the main supporting-bars 1, by means of pivot-pins or bolts, or trunnions 10, passing through or secured to the sidebars 7, and passing through or taking into the adjacent supporting-bars 1. The frame of the seat is supported in a substantially horizontal position and the front end thereof braced by means of a pair of depending supporting-arms or brace-members 11, pivotally-secured at their upper ends to the sidebars 7, and carrying at their lower ends a cross-bar 12, adapted to form a guide and slide upon the front faces of the supportingbars 1, when the chair is folded or unfolded. The lower or base ends of the brace-members 11, are adapted, when the chair is unfolded to its normal position, to come into engagement with the cross-b.r 2, the latter thus forming a seat or support for the member 11. In order to provide means whereby the brace-members will be prevented from swinging outwardly beyond the cross-bar 2,

a cross-bar 13, is secured to the lower or under sides of the side-bars 7, and is adapted to abut or impinge against the upper front faces of the brace-members 11, when the latter are substantially at right angles to the side-bars, as shown most clearly in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

In order to form a guide for carrying and maintaining the movable brace-bar or member 4, in proper relative position to the other parts of the chair, when folded and unfolded, a yoke or clevis 14, is pivotally-secured to the rear cross-bar 8,-and takes over and about and is adapted to slide upon said brace-bar or member 41, when the parts are moved upon the pivotal-connections.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the operation and advantages of my invention will be readily understood.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,

l. A folding-chair, comprising a pair of main supporting bars connected at their lower ends by a cross-bar, a seat pivotallysecured and provided at its rear with a clevis, supporting-arms carried by the front end of said seat and provided with a second crossbar sliding upon the front portion of said supporting-bars when the chair is moved to its folded position and resting upon said cross-bar when in its normal position, and a pivotally-mounted brace-bar carried by said main supporting-bars and taking through said clevis.

2. A folding-chair, comprising side support1ng-bars carrying a cross-bar near their base ends, a seat pivotally-secured thereto and provided with a clevis at its rear and at its front with means for normally supporting the same in a horizontal position upon said cross-bar, and a cross-member pivotallysecured. to said side supporting-bars and provided with a depending brace-member slidably connected to said seat by passing through said clevis.

3. In a folding chair, the combination with rearwardly-inclined brace-members pr0- vided at their lower ends with a cross-bar and carrying at their upper ends a pivotallymounted T-shaped brace-member; of a seat pivotally-secured to said brace-members and slidably-connected to said brace-member by means of a clevis, depending brace-members pivotally-secured to said seat and normally engaging said cross-bar, and means secured to the under side of said seat for preventing said depending brace-members from swinging outwardly beyond said cross-bar.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

MILTON T. BEDFORD.

Witnesses:

FRED CLAwsoN, ALBERT FRANCIS. 

